Halo and Gears Of War Crossover
by onyxcarmine
Summary: Years after the battle of Installation 00, John and Cortana find themselves crash landed on Sera. They crash into Azura and with no hope of rescue, they find themselves stuck in the ruined planet. There, they eventually meet up with Marcus and they work together to end the Lambent once and for all. Note: If you find Chief is ooc, then deal with it. :P
1. Welcome to Azura

4 years after the battle of Installation 00 and the activation of installation 04B. John-117, better known as Master Chief is still in cryosleep with his AI Cortana drifting through space in what remains of the UNSC ship Forward Unto Dawn with no sign of rescue. That is until now. The ship was now heading towards a planet known as Sera. Inside the ship, a warning alarm sounded, catching the attention of Cortana. She immediately appeared on a platform in the center of the cryostasis section of the ship. She looked around, seeing the alarms and knew that she had to wake up John. She quickly deactivated the cryotube and called to John.

"Chief! Chief wake up!" She said.

The ice inside the tube began to fade away and there was John, about to wake up from cryosleep.

"Wake up John! I need you!" Cortanas voice called.

Chief heard this and immediately sprang into action. He quickly opened the tube and got out and went over to the platform.

"I'm here Cortana, what is it? He asked.

"Chief, the Dawn appears to be on a crash course with an unknown planet!" Cortana said.

"Can you identify it?

"Negative, but I can see it. It looks like most of the planet is damaged, but I still see some parts that look like they're still in living condition. But that's all I know so far." Cortana said.

"Okay then, how long until we crash?" John asked.

"Looks like, 14 minutes." Cortana said.

"Okay, you get the escape pod ready and I'll get whatever weapons I can." John said.

"Affirmative."

As Cortana prepped the escape pod, John went to what remained of the Dawns armory and grabbed an MA5D Assault Rifle, BR85 Battle Rifle, M45D Tactical shotgun, M6 Magnum, and a handful of Frag Grenades. He quickly went back to the cryostatis area where Cortana just finished readying up their escape pod.

"Escape pod is ready Chief, yank me and let's go!" Cortana said.

John quickly grabbed Cortanas chip from the platform and put it in the back of his helmet. He then headed for the escape pod.

"3 minutes chief! Hurry!" Cortana said.

John got to the pod and got inside it with just 30 seconds to spare. He strapped in and braced as the Dawn entered the planets atmosphere.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Hang on!" Cortana said.

The escape pod then launched from the ship and went flying.

While it looked like the escape pod was heading in the same direction as the Dawn, this was quickly turned around. While John didn't know it, a flying creature known as a Reaver was flying by just as the Daw and pod entered the atmosphere. The pod crashed into the Reaver, instantly splattering it and killing it. This sent the pod flying off course.

"Holy hell what was that?!" Chief said.

"I don't know chief but we've been hit and are now out of control! The pods been damaged and at it's present speed, when we crash, the odds of survival are not good!" Cortana said.

"Well what can we do?"

"I can apply your armors shields to the out plating of the pod, from my calculations, it should be able to protect us from a fatal crash, but it'll cost you your shields."

"Do it." Chief said.

Cortana then drained Chiefs shields from his armor and applied then to the pods platings.

"Okay there we go, get ready!" Cortana said.

The pod was now on an out of control collision course with an island that was surrounded by a maelstrom, or so it seemed. Inside the storm was a facility called Azura filled with scientists and the elite soldiers of the COG, also called the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Inside the military part of the island, the soldiers were picking up something on their rader.

"Hey Captain Dury." One of the soldiers said.

"What is it corporal?" Captain Paul Dury said coming over.

"Um sir, we've picked up something heading for Azura, but it isn't Locust origins nor is it COG." The soldier said.

"That's impossible, it's gotta be Locust." Dury said.

"Well sir, it is heading for our perimeter. And it seems to have a shield around it too."

"Doesn't matter, as soon as it hits the maelstrom, it'll be torn to pieces. Nothing can penetrate our maelstrom device." Dury said.

"With respect sir, the objects shields seem to be strong enough to withstand even the maelstroms storm, and at its present speed it'll crash on Azura in 1 minute sir."

Dury didn't know what to do. He was unsure if this was a Locust trick or not.

"Get me Prescott." He said to a soldier. And 2 squads and 2 Centaurs ready and down there in 4!" He ordered his other soldiers.

"Sir yes sir!" The soldiers responded.

As the soldiers began to get their weapons ready, one handed Dury a phone with Prescott on it.

"Prescott sir." He said.

"Dury, what is going on down there?" Prescott asked.

"An object appears to be on a collision course with Azura, and it will crash in about 30 seconds so."

"How is that possible, how can it possibly get through the storm?"

"Well sir the object is traveling extremely fast and with its shields up, it will penetrate the storm and crash with minimal damage to the outside."

"Well get you and your mens asses down there now and take care of it when it crashes okay?!" Prescott said.

"Yes sir." Dury said before hanging up.

He then sighed and got his weapons ready.

Meanwhile the pod was about to crash into the island.

"This is it Chief, brace for impact!" Cortana said.

Chief braced and got ready.

…

"Chief? Chief can you hear me?!" Cortanas voice called.

"What Cortana? Cortana?!" John said as he got up and looked around to see the smash up parts of the escape pod he was still in.

"We're okay Chief, but this pod is totaled" Cortana said.

John kicked open the pods door and got out. When he stepped on the ground, he noticed that he was standing on a beach. It was dark and he looked up to see a storm happening above with lighting and rain. He quickly took out his MA5D and observed his surroundings.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"I don't know, it says we're on an island, but it doesn't say that this weather here is natural."

"What, are you saying we're on another Halo ring?" John asked.

"Impossible, we were clearly heading for a planet when aboard the Dawn." Cortana said.

"Well did you get a reading on that thing that hit us when we were falling?"

"Negative, but wait! Look at your pod." Cortana said.

John then went over to his pod and noticed that there was some blood on it.

"What is that?" Cortana asked.

"It looks like blood, but what could we have possibly hit?" John asked.

"I don't know, maybe it was. Wait a minute."

"What is it Cortana?" John asked.

"Chief I've got movement behind us!" Cortana said.

John quickly turned around and readied his gun. He pointed it what looked like 2 tanks and about 10 soldiers, all dressed in black armor. They were all pointing their guns at him too.

"Hey you! Drop the gun!" Durys voice called out.

"Cortana, are these covenant?" John quickly said.

"Negative Chief, they seem to be humans like you. Only they seem to be different from the marines back on earth."

"I'm not gonna ask you again! Drop the gun or we'll shoot you!" Durys voice called again.

"Hey wait I'm human!" John said as he lowered his Assault Rifle.

"Hey it talks, locust don't talk." One of the onyx guards whispered.

"Stow it corporal! Dury said. "You're human? You're not locust are you?"

"I do not know what a locust is." John said.

"What's your name?"

"Spartan John 117."

"Well then John, get on your knees and place your hands behind your head!" Dury ordered.

"Chief you're not actually going to do that right?" Cortana asked.

"Well I reckon I could easily take down these guys, but those two tanks, or I'm assuming they're tanks, don't look too friendly." John said.

John then took out his other guns and placed them on the ground and put his hands behind his helmet. Then two onyx guards came over and took the weapons while another two came over with hand cuffs. They put them on Johns gloves and then helped him up.

"You're coming with us." One of them said.

The three then walked back over to the tanks and the guards brought John to Dury and they were now face to face.

"You part of the COG?" He asked.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what COG means or stands for." John said.

Dury looked at one of the guards holding John and nodded. They then both started to take him towards a road that they used to get to the pods crash site. Once up the road, John saw a rather beautiful tall hotel building and another one that had a beam shooting from its top up to the storm overhead.

"That must be what's causing this storm." Cortana said.

Meanwhile back at the crash site, Dury was chatting with his other onyx soldiers.

"Sergeant, I want your squad to observe that object that our guest arrived in. Find out whether he's part of the locust or not. Understood?" Dury said.

"Affirmative." The Onyx Sergeant replied.

As they began to investigate the wreckage, Dury walked up and stood beside Chief.

"Welcome to Azura John." Dury said.

"Where are we going?" John asked.

"To the pinnacle tower, you're meeting with Richard Prescott." Dury said.

He then motioned to the two onyx guards holding John to move and they all walked towards the pinnacle tower.


	2. Do we have a deal?

**Authors note: Okay take note I'm done calling Chief John so I'm just gonna call him Chief now when he speaks. Okay back to the story!**

John, Dury, and the two onyx guards reached the pinnacle tower and they went inside. Once inside, John looked around and saw that the hotel was like a 5 star hotel. Inside it was all bright, much nicer then the storm happening outside. The lights were bright and he could even see statues of people. He saw people carrying suitcases, people pushing suitcase carriers, and most importantly, he saw people in white lab coats being escorted by onyx guards, clearly they were scientists and were very important.

"Well this certainly beats your cryotube in the Dawn Chief." Cortana said.

"You can say that again Cortana." John replied.

This caught the attention of one of his escorts and he stopped.

"Who are you talking to buddy?" The onyx guard asked in a snarky tone.

"Corporal Jenkins what are you doing?" Dury asked.

"This giant here just called me Cortana." Jenkins responded.

"Oh I forgot to mention I have someone with me, an AI." John said.

"AI? What is an AI?" Dury asked.

"Well if you allow me to use my hands I can show you." John said.

Dury thought about this for a few seconds and then agreed to. He motioned Jenkins to remove the cuffs. The onyx guard unhooked the cuffs and John had control of his hands again. He then put his glove behind his helmet and yanked Cortanas chip out of it. He then held it out in his hand and shortly after, Cortanas blue body appeared over the circle part of the chip, startling the onyx guards and causing them to raise their lancers at her.

"It's alright!" Chief said holding his hand up like he was stopping a fight, "She's with me."

The guards kept their lancers aimed at Cortana until Dury told them to put them down.

"It's alright men! Hold your fire!" He said.

While the other guard lowered his lancer, Jenkins didn't lower his.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Jenkins said.

"It's an AI, Artificial Intelligence, she's not dangerous." Chief said.

Jenkins then lowered his gun and took a breath to calm himself down. Chief then turned to Dury and showed him Cortana.

"Captain Dury, this is my partner Cortana."

Dury was observing Cortana, clearly fascinated by her, he had never seen anything like this since the Hammer Of Dawn was created.

"How is she even standing there?" Dury asked.

"Well sir I'd be lying if I said I knew, but I just thought I'd show you everything so that you don't think I'm a locust or whatever you called me." Chief said.

Chief then put Cortanas chip back into his helmet and they continued to walk through the hotel till they got to the elevator. They opened it and went in and Dury pressed the top floor button. As they went up, Chief saw that Jenkins was staring at him. Even though his face was covered by that black helmet, he could tell that under those blue helmet eyes, Jenkins was glaring at him. Chief chose to ignore it and kept waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor. After they did, the elevators doors opened and Dury stepped out first, followed by Jenkins and the other guard. They then came to a hallway and started to walk down it. Along the side were portraits of what Chief assumed were popular military leaders in that world. He also noticed that there were hotel room doors along the hallway, each with two onyx guards standing guard with their lancers in their hands. He noticed a few of them look at him for a short time before resuming their duties. Then they reached the end of the hallway and were now at a large door. Chief assumed that this was the one where Prescott as they called him was located in. They opened the door and only Dury and Chief went in with Jenkins and the other guard staying outside. Chief then saw a man with short hair and a beard sitting at a table in the room. He assumed that was Prescott. He also saw two onyx guards who go by the names Lowe and Rivera standing guard in the corners with their lancers.

"Prescott sir." Dury said.

Prescott looked up and saw Dury and behind him was the 7 foot tall Master Chief. Of course to Prescott, he looked more like a giant.

"Yes Captain Dury." Prescott said sounding almost annoyed.

"Boy what a nice guy." Cortana said to Chief.

"We have made contact with the crashed object and inside we found this figure. He says he's not locust nor Cog. He goes by the name of Spartan John 117."

"But you can call me Master Chief." Chief said.

Prescott looked at Chief uninterestingly and looked back at Dury. "So he's not COG or locust?"

"Affirmative sir, what do you wish for us to do?" Dury asked.

"Leave me with him, I'll figure out what he really is." Prescott said.

Dury nodded and then exited the room while Chief took a seat in front of Prescott.

"So um, Master Chief, where did you come from?" Prescott asked.

"Well if I told you, you'd probably think I'm crazy." Chief said. "So I'll let my friend here tell you."

"Your friend?"

Chief then pulled Cortanas chip out of his helmet and held it out and she appeared on it again. This caused Rivera and Lowe to point their guns at her while Prescott put his hand up signaling them to lower their weapons. He looked at her with fascination, but not like Dury did.

"What's her name?" Prescott asked Chief.

"Her name is Cortana, Artificial Intelligence and my partner." Chief said.

"Well that's interesting, so she can tell me how you two got here?" Prescott asked.

"Yes I can." Cortana said, catching the attention of Prescott. He didn't expect her to talk.

"So, how did you two get here?"

"Well, see Chief here is a Spartan super soldier and he is one of the best soldiers ever created. He fought a 28 year war against an alien species known as the Covenant. He led us through many victories during the war and ultimately won it for us on the battle of installation 00, also known as "The Ark". However, before our departure, an infection known as the flood showed up on the installation and we had to stop it from spreading. Our remaining soldiers left through the portal while Chief rescued me from the Gravemind and then we activated what was called a halo ring to kill the flood. We then attempted to escape thorough the portal our troops went through, but it collapsed and our ship was cut in half, with our part not going through. Since then we have been drifting through space waiting for rescue until we crash landed on this planet and here we are." Cortana explained.

Prescott was taken aback from this, clearly shocked.

"So, you're telling me that you two crash landed on here?" He asked.

"That is correct Prescott." Cortana said.

"Well that's good to hear because that means you're not locust."

"Actually, do you mind telling us what a locust is exactly? Because from what me and Chief have heard, they aren't well liked around here." Cortana said.

"Of course, well about 17 years ago, our planet was recovering from a 79 year old planet-wide conflict known as the Pendulum Wars." Prescott said.

"So you guys had a world war?" Cortana asked.

"Yes. It was between the UIR and the COG. So anyway, it finally ended and for 6 weeks we had peace, but then Emergence Day happened. The day when the Locust Horde emerged from the ground everywhere and overran most of our cities and military bases. 25% of the human population died that day." Prescott said.

"Oh my god." Chief said.

"We tried to launch a counter attack, but no one was willing to support us, they only cared for their own survival. So one year after E day, I had no choice but to use the Hammer Of Dawn." Prescott said.

"Hammer Of Dawn?" Chief asked.

"It's a satellite in space that fires a deadly laser to the target location. Once it hits the target, that's it. Poof."

"So what did you use it for?" Chief asked.

"Well I gave citizens of the world 3 days to make it to Jacinto. The only safe place outside of the Hammers blast zone."

After Chief and Cortana heard this, they figured they weren't gonna like what Prescott was gonna say next.

"After 3 days, I fired the Hammer and it scorched 90% of Sera, killing billions of humans and all the locust caught in the blast radius. I've never forgiven myself for that. After that, we continued to be pushed back by the locust until we were only left with Jacinto. And that's how we won the war, or at least severely depleted the hordes numbers anyway, by sinking Jacinto. Our last safe haven.

"Well if that was your last safe haven, then what's this place?" Chief asked.

"This is Azura, the COG's bunker for its top key scientists and elite soldiers of the COG army." Prescott said.

"So while you're sitting here in this safe haven, or billion dollar panic room, everyone out there in what remains of this planet is starving and dying?" Cortana asked.

"That is correct." Prescott said.

"You sick bastard!" Cortana said almost yelling.

This caused Rivera and Lowe to walk towards Chief and Cortana, should they become violent and attack Prescott. However Chief managed to keep his temper down and he put Cortana back into his helmet.

"Well then, Prescott, why are your top scientists and elite soldiers here instead of out there?" Chief asked.

"Well, on our planet, similar to your story, there is an infection spreading around called "Lambent" Prescott said."

"Lambent?"

"Yes, an infection that makes locust turn into explosives basically, but they can still shoot. The cause of this is exposure to Imulsion. It's a fuel that lives in Sera. Or so we thought it was a fuel, turns out it's a parasite that feeds off locust. It's unknown if it affects humans."

"So you're hiding out and waiting for the infection to die out? Chief asked.

"No, we're working on a weapon that can counter and kill all living Imulsion beings and Locust beings alike too. Our top scientist Adam Fenix is working on it." Prescott said.

"What does that have to do with us?" Chief asked.

"Well" Prescott said as he got up, "I feel like we could strike up a deal Master Chief. Your partner told us that you were in a 28 year old war and that you survived it. And that you were the best soldier out there. So, I was thinking, if you stay with us and protect our scientists, once the weapon is complete, we can manipulate a Hammer Of Dawn Satellite to send out a signal to a possible rescue ship out searching for you. We can live in peace and you can go back home, what do you say, Master Chief?" Prescott said extending out his hand for Chief to shake.

"Don't do it Chief! This guy killed billions of his own people and 90% of the planet! Don't do it!" Cortana said inside Chiefs helmet.

Chief considered Cortanas words, but he figured that if there was a chance of him getting back to Earth and leaving this ruined planet, he was gonna take it.

"I say we have a deal Prescott." Chief said as he shook Prescotts hands.

"Excellent." Prescott said with a smile.


	3. Prepare for battle

The next day Chief was now exploring Azura. He'd been told he'd travel with a man named Nevil Estrom. Nevil was a scientist with orange hair and had on glasses.

"So Nevil, how long have you been here?" Chief asked.

"Oh I've been here since 10 A.E." Nevil replied.

"A.E?" Chief asked.

"Short for After Emergence Day." Nevil replied.

"Oh. So these locust creatures I've heard so much about? What do they look like?" Chief asked.

Before Nevil could reply, Cortana appeared on Johns HUD.

"Yank me Chief, I'll show you." She said.

Chief then pulled Cortanas chip out from his helmet and held it in his hand and she appeared again, surprising Nevil.

"Oh so that's what Prescott was telling me about." Nevil said fascinated.

Cortana smiled and then brought up a screen with a picture of a locust drone on it. Chief saw this and under his helmet, his eyes quenched in disgust.

"Oh god, what is that?" He said as he observed the pale skinned ugly creature.

"They're called drones Chief, or grubs by the soldiers of the COG." Cortana said.

"They are the grunts of the locust horde." Nevil added in.

"So they're like the Unggoy in the covenant Cortana?"

"Precisely Chief, only they aren't cowards, says here that they are brave and never fearless, even when greatly outnumbered." Cortana said.

"Well that's gonna make fighting them a lot easier." Chief said.

"You're not gonna fight them ever Chief, this place is untouchable!" Nevil said.

"Actually Nevil, it's not!" A voice called out.

Nevil and John turned to see Dury walking towards them.

"This place may seem untouchable, but it isn't. It just slows them down from getting in." He said.

"Right, sorry sir." Nevil said.

"Now Chief, we want to talk to you about something." Dury said.

"What is it sir?" Chief asked.

"It's about your, well, the object you flew in on."

"What of it?"

"Well we were searching around in it and we found what looked like a beacon. Now since your weapons seem to be more advanced than ours, we can only assume that this is an actual beacon. Problem is, we don't know how big or strong the signal is."

"Chief, maybe I can help with that." Cortana said. "If you let me observe the beacon, maybe I can force it to produce a bigger radius that can possibly reach space!"

"My A.I partner has an idea, she thinks there maybe be a way to force the beacon to produce a stronger signal into space and maybe even get rescued." Chief said.

"Yeah that could work, if we didn't have the Maelstrom device up." Dury said.

"Oh right, do you think you could possibly take it down?" Chief asked.

"I'm sorry Chief but that is out of the question, if we even let our guard down for a second, we could have a whole locust army on us within an hour." Dury said.

"Of course, sorry." Chief said.

Then, just after he said that, the maelstrom happening around the island stopped. The clouds disappeared and the sun was now shining over the revealed beautiful island. While it was gorgeous, that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Oh shit, that's not good." Dury said.

"What happened?" Chief asked.

"The damn maelstrom device stopped working we've gotta get that thing turned back on now!"

Just as Dury began to run, an alarm sounded. Chief and Nevil looked around, knowing that couldn't possibly be a good sign either. Dury then took out his radio.

"Jenkins? Jenkins! What the hell's happening down there?!" He demanded into the radio.

"Sir we've got locust down here, 6 of them and a man down!" Jenkins voice said back.

Dury then heard gunfire happening over the radio shortly before it was cut off and he got nothing but static.

"Dammit! Jenkins? Are you there? Jenkins?!" He shouted but got no reply.

"What do we do now Dury?" Chief asked.

"Nevil take Master Chief to his weapons and then get everybody on the island on high alert. We're about to have a bunch of locust swarming all over us!" Dury said.

"You got it sir!" Nevil said.

"Hello Red Squad? I need you guys down at the maelstrom device station ASAP!" Dury said into his radio.

Chief and Nevil began to run to where the onyx guard put his weapons and as they ran, the warning alarms continued to sound. They could see scientists running for the nearest war shelters and some onyx guards loading up their weapons for the upcoming battle.

"So, has this ever happened before?" Chief asked Nevil.

"I'm afraid not, the locust have never found this facility until now." Nevil replied.

"Well then, can the onyx guard handle the locust? I mean they are the elite of your army."

"They should, but we'll stand a better chance against with you supporting us."

"You can count on me." Chief replied.

Then they ran by a window and they saw several King Raven helicopters flying by.

"Looks like this is going to be a huge fight Chief." Cortana said.

"Well it's not like we haven't been in one before either." Chief replied.

Then an announcement came over the hotels speakers.

"Attention. Attention. All citizens of Azura, proceed to the war shelters, we are about to be under attack by locust. Do not attempt to exit the shelters for any reason whatsoever unless you are instructed to by an onyx guard." The announcer said.

"We better hurry then." Chief said.

Eventually, they reached the islands armory. Inside the onyx guards were loading up their longshots, gnashers, lancers, and getting the centaurs ready for battle. Nevil lead Chief to where they put his weapons. There he almost smiled under his helmet when he saw his weapons again. He put his M6 pistol into his holster, put his BR85 onto his back along with his M45D shotgun too, and then put his MA5D into his hands and checked to make sure it was loaded. He took clips for all his weapons and put them around his waist. He then took his frag grenades and put them there too. He was now ready for battle. Nevil looked at him and was quite impressed.

"Wow, you look like you could take on the whole damn locust army." He said.

"Let's hope I can do that." Chief said.

The other onyx guards were now all armed for battle. Then Chief saw Dury come back in and all the onyx guards lined up and stood up straight as he walked in.

"Alright! Listen up! The locust have found Azura and they'll be here in 15 minutes! Now the only advantage we have is that we know the island and they don't but without the maelstrom device, they could land anywhere on the island. Now we have to assume that they'll be coming in by sea mostly so I want all centaurs and most onyx guards on the beachhead of the island. I have King Ravens in the air to counter any possible air attack. I have also sent Red Squad to defend the Imulsion Weapon that Adam Fenix is working on. Now guards, you may be the only thing that's left of the COG army on this planet, so if you die, be sure to give those locust bastards hell and show them that the last breath of humanity doesn't go down so easily!" Dury said.

"SIR YES SIR!" The onyx guards shouted.

"Alright, move out!" Dury said.

As the onyx guard and centaur tanks began to move out, Dury went over to Chief.

"Chief?" Dury said.

"What is it sir?" Chief asked.

"Son I still don't know whether you're locust or not. But listen, if what Prescott told me about you being in a 28 year old war and being the best soldier during that time, well son, you go out there and show me if that's actually true." Dury said.

"You can count on me sir." Chief said.

Dury then began to exit the armory and Nevil went over to Chief.

"Hey Chief, before you go out there, there's something your partner should see." Nevil said.

The scientist then led Chief over to a computer and opened it. He then browsed through the files till he got to a file and opened it. There Chief could see pictures of locust.

"What is this?"

"It's data on the locust soldiers. They have more than just drones out there. I suggest your partner uploads the files to her chip so she can give you an explanation of what each locust soldier does. I don't know what you fought in your last war, but I can assure you that these guys are very different." Nevil explained.

"He's right Chief, let me upload the files and I can brief you on the way to the beach." Cortana said.

Cortana then began extracting the files from the computer into her own data and when she was done, Chief said goodbye to Nevil and he began heading in the same direction the onyx guards were heading.

"Okay Cortana, show me these locust creatures." Chief said.

**Authors note: Don't worry guys, the next chapter will be all action!**


	4. Battle for Azura

Chief just arrived on the beachhead where he could see several onyx guards and centaurs set up ready for battle. Cortana just finished briefing him on the last of the locust creatures, the Brumak.

"Well hopefully we won't have to deal with those big guys." Cortana said.

"Guess we'll find out." Chief said.

The Spartan then went over and got into position with the other onyx guard. He saw them positioned behind sandbags with their lancers armed and at the ready. Chief quickly took position near them too with his battle rifle. The other onyx guards looked at him, fascinated by his appearance. His green armor and tall figure was very different compared to their black armor.

"Hey, your Chief right?" One of them asked.

"That is correct." John replied.

"So you gonna fight with us, or just flee when it gets too intense?"

"Soldier, I never flee against overwhelming odds. I never retreat unless I'm ordered too." Chief replied.

"Well then how about you show us what you can do-"

_**BOOM!**_

The onyx guard who was talking with Chief was cut off when a longshot sniper round pierced through his helmet and splattered his head, causing it to explode into a mist of red. Chief flinched as the head exploded and he then saw the headless body collapse onto the ground.

"LOCUST! WE HAVE CONTACT WITH LOCUST!" one of the onyx guard officers shouted.

Chief then looked up to see several boats arriving on the beach. From the looks of it, each one was filled with half a dozen locust. Then the boats reached the shore and the locust troops began pouring out of each one.

"Here we go." Chief said.

Then another cracking sound was heard and Chief turned and saw that another onyx guard had been sniped with his headless body falling down.

"SNIPERS, BE CAREFUL MEN!" the same officer shouted. "LIGHT EM UP!"

Chief then saw onyx guards with longshots get up and aim at the locust. They began to snipe some of them before reloading again. The other guards with their lancers took aim and began firing at the oncoming locust troops. Chief aimed his Battle Rifle and began firing too. The centaurs fired their cannons at the locust, taking out large numbers of them, but they just kept coming.

Chief using the scope on his gun aimed for the heads of the locust and fired his bursts at them. The drones began returning fire with their hammerbursts and let out roars as they charged the beachhead. The onyx guards continued to use their position to fire on the troops, but the locusts return fire took down a few onyx guards. They took cover only to reload and resume firing. Chief managed to kill 5 drones with his first clip before having to reload it.

"Come on Chief, they're almost identical to brutes, aim for their head!" Cortana said.

Chief then aimed carefully at the drones heads and fired again. The 3 shot burst killed the drone and he fell over dead. Chief eventually got the hang of it and began killing many more drones with each clip of his battle rifle.

However the locust just kept coming in endless waves. They were relentless and were determined to overrun the COG base. Above the battlefield, the leader of the locust horde, Queen Myrrah, was observing the battle on her tempest.

"Well, the humans seem to be holding out well, send in the reavers." She commanded.

Back on the beach, the COG has taken minimal causalities while the locust were already taking heavy ones. Chief and the onyx guards with the firepower of the centaurs seemed to be holding out well. However Cortana picked up movement.

"Chief, I've got movement coming from above us!" Cortana said.

John then looked up to see several squid-like creatures flying down at them.

"Oh no." John said to himself. "Hey watch out above us!" He shouted to the other onyx guards.

The other guards looked up to see reavers flying at them.

"REAVERS!" one of the guards shouted.

The reavers then all shot rockets at onyx guards position. Chief and some of them managed to roll out of the way, but most of the onyx guards couldn't. The rockets hit them and exploded, killing most of the guards. The reavers also took out two of the three centaurs stationed there.

The drones saw this moment of weakness and chose to take advantage. They all rushed to the position where the humans were just recovering. Chief got up just in time to see the drones jump over the sandbags and breach their perimeter. A group of four drones saw him and began to charge at him.

"Chief I suggest you run!" Cortana said.

"I can't do that Cortana, I can't leave these soldiers to die." Chief said.

He then took out his shotgun and fired at the first drone. He collapsed on the ground dead as the other ones ran at Chief. One of them took a swing at Chief, but he grabbed the drones arm and twisted it. He then sent a powerful kick into his chest, sending him flying back and crashing into another group of drones. The next drone then punch Chief's chest plate, but this only caused John to stumbled back a little before punching the drone from under the jawbone, sending him flying up a little high and landing on his head with his neck broken. The final drone attempted to tackle John, but the Spartan shoved the barrel of his shotgun into the drones stomach and then fired. The drones stomach exploded into a mess of blood and he fell over dead. Meanwhile the remaining onyx guards had recovered and were now firing at the locust.

Chief then charged to the other drones, firing his shotgun at them and killing them. They fired their guns at him, but they did minimal damage to the Spartans advanced shielding and armor. John then switched to his assault rifle and fired at the drones, cutting down a few before reloading. He took out one of his frags and pulled the pin and tossed it at another group of drones, exploding and killing them.

Chief then saw that the onyx guards were now reorganized from the attack and they now had to regain control of their position on the beach.

"Okay men, drive those locust bastards back to the beach and out of this position!" The officer said.

Chief smiled under his helmet and joined the onyx guards. One of them took out a frag grenade and tossed it at a large group of drones. It exploded and turned them into a cloud of red mist. Chief then reloaded his shotgun and assault rifle before joining the battle. He shot a shotgun round into a drone before switching to his rifle and shooting down 3 more drones. The other onyx guards revved up their chainsaws on their lancers and began sawing through locust soldiers. Chief caught sight of this and looked in shock under his helmet as the guards cut through the drones.

"Chief behind you!" Cortana said.

"CRUSH!" a loud deep voice called out behind Chief.

Chief turned around to see a mauler swing an explosive flail down at him. However, the Spartan quickly grabbed the large locusts hand and stopped his attack. The other onyx guards saw this and stared at him, frozen in shock.

"Crush this." Chief said.

He then, using his Spartan strength, twisted and turned the maulers fat arm and he roared in pain. Chief then took out his pistol and removed the maulers helmet, revealing his ugly fat face. Chief then put the pistol into the maulers mouth and shot it. He then let go of the dead beast and turned back to the onyx guards.

"Holy shit. How did you do that?" One of them asked.

Before Chief could respond, another loud deep voice was heard.

"BOOM!"

Chief and the other onyx guards looked over to see figures similar to the one he just killed fire rockets at them.

"BOOMERS GET DOWN!" one of the guards shouted.

They all took cover and avoided the boomshot rocket.

As the boomers reloaded, Chief and the guards got back up and unloaded their weapons onto the large beasts.

"Die already!" one of the guards shouted.

"How much can they take?!" another one shouted.

"BOOM!"

Most of the guards took cover again, but some of them weren't quick enough and were killed by the rocket.

Chief then took out a frag grenade and pulled the ping and tossed it at the boomers.

"BOO-"

_**BAM!**_

The boomers were cut off when Chiefs frag grenade killed them. He and the remaining onyx guards had successfully retaken the beaches position, for now anyway. However they quickly saw that more locust boats at just pulled up and were carrying more locust troops. The officer in charge of the beaches unit saw this and was on a radio requesting reinforcements.

"Sir we have another huge wave of locust approaching our position, we need more artillery NOW!" the officer said into the radio.

"That's negative sergeant, all King Ravens are engaged with Reavers, and we've spotted some locust Gas Barges too." The officer on the radio replied.

"Goddammit! We need more support now!" The officer replied.

As the officer continued to chat on the radio, Chief and the other onyx guards with the remaining centaur tank were engaging the newly arrived locust.

"SHIT, GRINDER!"

Chief then saw that some large locust similar to boomers were firing mini guns at them. They also had a hat like helmet on. He took out his battle rifle and aimed it at the grinders, but then saw some of them explode. He turned and saw that the centaur had the grinders handled so Chief went back to focusing on the ground troops. He fired his battle rifle at the drones, cutting down one with each burst. Then he reloaded and saw that he had only one round left.

"Better make these count." He said.

Just as he aimed again, the onyx guard beside him exploded.

"Whoa what the hell?!" Chief said alarmed.

The other onyx guards saw this too and they knew what this meant.

"Shit, Theron!" one of them shouted.

Chief then saw a locust dressed in a red rode like clothing holding what looked like a bow in his hand.

"Attack!" It's voiced hissed. It then began charging up its bow and a yellow glow appeared in front of it.

"Chief get down!" Cortana said.

John quickly dove down and took cover as the theron shot its bow at him. He dodged it and saw that the bow hit the wall behind him. A moment later it exploded.

"Whoa geez, better stay clear of those Chief!" Cortana said.

Chief then got back up and shot his battle rifle at the therons helmet. However it didn't fall off and he hissed at the Spartan. John continued to fire at the locust troop until its helmet finally came off and he shot it in the head. However, the Spartan had depleted all his guns ammo to kill that thing so his BR was now useless. He threw it aside and took out his assault rifle and resumed shooting at the locust. Around, he could see that more onyx guards had fallen to the locust and that they were running out of men to match the increasing numbers of the locust.

"Sir, you don't get it! If we don't get any support out here soon, the beach will be overrun! Do you understand me?!" The officer said into the radio.

"I hear you but the locust are spreading our force thin around the island! If we send anything to assist you and your platoon, we're giving the locust a wide gap in our defense!" The voice replied.

"But we can't hold them much longer! We need that backup right no-"

_**BOOM!**_

The officer on the radio was sniped and he collapsed over dead. Chief and the onyx guards saw this and knew that they were close to being overrun.

"Shit our commander is dead! What do we do!?"

Their question was answered when they heard a loud roar and then felt the ground shake. Chief and the onyx guards turned and saw something they wish they didn't see. A Brumak.

"SHIT IT'S A BRUMAK!" the onyx guards shouted.

The giant beast roared and fired its rockets from its large rocket launcher. Chief and very few onyx guards took cover while most panicked and tried to run away. However as they did, the rockets hit them and killed most of them. The ones who survived the rockets were severely wounded and were quickly bleeding out.

"Chief, you have to retreat now!" Cortana said.

John knew that he had to retreat, but he had to give one last effort. He then looked up and saw the driver of the centaur open the tanks hatch and quickly jump out and run away with the other onyx guards who survived the Brumaks bombardment. However most of them were being cut down by the Brumaks dual machine guns on it's arms.

"Cortana, how much ammo does that tank have left?"

"Looks like about 6 shells left, why?"

"Because I'm gonna take out that giant beast." Chief said.

The Spartan then pulled out his shotgun and killed 3 drones who were blocking his way. He felt seveal bullets hit his shield and turned and saw several drones firing their hammerbursts at him. He returned fire with a full clip of his assault rifle, taking down a few of them before getting into the centaur. Once inside, he saw that it looked very different from the Scorpion tanks he's driven in the past.

"Um Cortana, how do I use this thing?" Chief asked.

"I don't know Chief, this'll take a minute." Cortana said. "Okay I got it, you need to press the blue button to open up the target screen."

Chief pressed the button and it opened up a screen with a reticule on it. He could see the Brumak on the screen.

"Okay now to shoot, press the red button." Cortana said.

Chief then used the controls to aim the tanks cannon at the Brumak and once the reticule was in the beasts path, he had a clear shot.

"Okay, here we go." He said.

The Spartan pressed the red button and the tank fired its first rocket. It hit the monster, but it didn't kill it. He pressed it again and shot the second rocket, but it still didn't kill it. He shot again and the best still didn't go down.

"Dammit, it's still coming."

Chief fired again and the Brumak kept coming. He had only two shots left. He gritted his unseen teeth and fired his fifth shot. This time, when it hit the Brumak, it killed it and its massive body collapsed on the beach, causing the whole ground to shake.

"Nice job Chief!" Cortana said.

John then aimed the centaurs cannon down at the large group of drones and fired its last shot. This killed a large group of drones and the Spartan opened the tanks hatch and got out and began to run up the hill.

Once up the hill, he could see King Ravens battling against numerous reavers in the sky. He also saw some anti-air gun fire coming from some parts of the hotel firing at the reavers.

"Looks like the elite of the COG couldn't hold the island." Cortana said a little saddened.

"Doesn't matter, we've got to get down there and assist them." Chief said as he reloaded his assault rifle and started to head down to the hotel.


	5. Rendezvous with Sovereign

Chief made his way towards the hotel. Along the way, he came across several dead bodies of both locust and onyx guards from a recent battle. He didn't have time to grieve and he kept moving forward. Eventually, the Spartan reached the hotels main doors. When he got there, he could see 3 bodies of dead onyx guards with one of them holding a mulcher in his dead hands. Chief then pressed his hands against the door and using his strength, he pushed it open and went inside.

"Oh my god." Cortana said.

Chief and Cortana could see that was once a beautiful hotel atrium was now just a bloody mess. Bodies of dead guards laid everywhere with a pool of blood around each one. He saw a few locust bodies, but there were much more dead guard bodies.

"Looks like this was more of a massacre then a battle." Cortana said.

"Yeah, I guess the locust are just as bad as the covenant." Chief said.

Then the Spartan saw that one of the guards had a radio in his hand and then heard a message on it.

"Any and all remaining forces! Get to the top of the pinnacle tower! I repeat proceed to the top of the tower!" A voice said.

"Guess that's our destination." Cortana said.

As Chief headed his way towards the elevator, Cortana picked up movement.

"Chief I'm picking up movement behind us!"

John quickly took his assault rifle out form the holster on his back and turned around to see several locust drones staring at him.

"Uh Chief?"

"HUMAN!" one of the drones shouted.

The drones began firing their hammerbursts at the Spartan, causing more damage to his shields and forcing him to take cover.

"Looks like their weapons are stronger in groups." Cortana said.

"Just like grunts." Chief replied.

After his shields recharged, Chief took out a grenade and pulled the pin. He threw it back at the group of advancing drones. Some of them saw this and dove out of the way, but most were killed by the explosion. Chief then came out of cover and began unloading his assault rifle onto the recovering drones. He killed a few before having to reload. The drones returned fire to the Spartan with little effect. Chief fired his assault rifle at the remaining drones and when he had to reload again, he saw there was only one left. This drone threw down his weapon and let out a battle cry and charged at the 7 foot tall Spartan. This quickly proved futile as Chief quickly grabbed the drones neck and lifted him up into the air. He then threw him across the hotel room and his head crashed into a wall, cracking it open.

"That's gotta hurt." Chief said.

The Spartan then reach the elevator and pressed the button. When the elevator door opened, inside were 2 dead onyx guards with some blood around them. Chief ignored this and stepped inside and pressed the top floor button. As the elevator went up, he could see outside the elevators window. A king raven flew by quickly followed by several reavers. He then heard the exchange of gunfire happen before hearing a loud crash.

"What was that?" Chief asked.

"That was the helicopter we just saw flying by crash." Cortana said.

Then the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened. As Chief began to exit, he herd the sound of gunfire.

"Chie I'm picking up a signal!" Cortana said.

"Alpha squad, this is Charlie two, status report!" A voice said.

"Not good sir, we've lost most of our squad!"

"Where are those reinforcements!?"

"Charlie two squad, this is Cortana and John 117, we've received your signal and are on our way!"

"Uh okay that's good to hear! Hurry!"

"Chief, proceed down to the end of the hall and then turn left." Cortana said.

Chief then began to make his way down to the end of the hall and then turned left. Cortana picked up more on the radios conversation.

"Sir, this is hopeless, they're overrunning us!" A voice called.

"They are not!"

"We've gotta pull back!"

"Negative soldier, you really think it's gonna get better if we do! You think we'll be shown mercy?!"

"No sir."

"We're not going anywhere!"

Chief continued to make his way to Charlie two with Cortana guiding him along the way. The sound of gunfire was getting louder.

"Now just take a right up here and you should meet with them." Cortana said.

Chief then came around a corner and he saw a squad of five onyx guards with a mounted turret firing at locust down the hallway. He immediately offered his assistance.

"This is Spartan 117, what's the situation?" Chief asked.

"Well um, we're trying to defend Prescott from the locust seeing as he's trying to convince Adam Fenix to come with him." One of the onyx guards said.

"Leaving?"

"Yeah, Azura is lost, we've got to retrea-"

_**BAM!**_

He was cut off when a locust shot him and killed him.

"Dammit." Chief said.

He look position and fired at the drones down the hallway with the remaining onyx guards. The guard on the turret cut down many drones with the weapons firepower, but the locust just kept coming. Chief took out his second last frag grenade and threw it down the hall. It exploded, killing a large number of drones. He reloaded his assault rifle and saw his had only one clip left. He sighed and shoved the clip into the weapon and fired in short controlled bursts this time. The return fire of the locust caused chief to flinch a little. By the time his assault rifle was empty, he had killed 6 drones with it and he switched to his pistol.

"We're running out of time here Chief!" Cortana said.

"Why?"

"Because I'm picking up a large force of locust coming up here and their ETA is 10 minutes!"

"Hell, well we better go finish off this bunch and get going." Chief said.

The Spartan then took out his shotgun and charged down the hallway. He then opened the hotel room doors and went into them in order to flank the locust. He kicked open the doors and fired on a group of 3 drones. One tried to hit him from behind, but he elbowed it in the ribs and shot it in the face. He reloaded his 4 shots into the 6 round chamber and then went back into the hallway. There he killed 5 more locust with his shotgun before having to reload again. The onyx guards at the end of the hallway continued to pepper the drones with their weapons, only taking time to reload and for the turret to cool down from overheating. During this time, a sniper sniped the guard on the turret, causing the onyx guards to fire on him with their lancers, killing him. Chief then went out and was at the end of the hallway. He came across 4 drones. He shot 2 of them, then kicked one in the stomach, sending him flying out a window. And he then grabbed the last drone by the neck and held him in the air.

"Chief I'm picking up a large force of locust coming up on the elevator behind you!" Cortana said.

Chief then looked back at the elevator and got an idea. He took out his last frag grenade and popped it into the drones mouth. Just as the elevator opened, he pulled the pin and kicked the drone into the elevator filled with boomers and drones.

"A parting gift." Chief said.

The grenade then exploded, killing all the locust inside the elevator and destroying it.

"Whoa, nice job Chief!"

The Spartan then went back up to where the onyx guards were, making his way past the several corpses on the way. He could see the 3 onyx guards chatting.

"We have just been told that we have get to Adam Fenixs lab!" one of them said.

The onyx guards began to move with Chief following close behind them. Then they reached a large door in the center of anther hallway with Rivera and Lowe standing guard outside it.

"What's the situation?" one of the guards asked.

"We've got Prescott in there trying to convince Adam to come with us, but it doesn't seem to be working." Lowe responded.

"Well it better be quick, we've got less than 5 minutes before this whole floor is crawling with locust." Chief said.

Lowe looked at Chief for a second before speaking to him.

"You know I still don't trust you. I mean you're not from here, you wear different body armor form us, and you're 7 feet tall, how do we know you're not a kantus in there?" Lowe asked.

"Because he just killed half a dozen locust for us in another hallway." The onyx guard cut in.

Before Lowe could respond, the door behind them was opened and Prescott stepped out wearing light armor.

"Very well Adam, you can stay here and work on your weapon. I suppose it's for the best." Prescott said.

Chief peeked in to see a bald man wearing glasses and a lab coat nod at Prescott. He looked at the Spartan for a quick second before resuming his work.

"Rivera, Lowe, seal the door." Prescott said. He then saw Chief. "Oh hello Master Chief."

"Hello Prescott sir." Chief replied back.

Prescott turned to the 3 other onyx guards.

"Are you all that's left?" He asked the leader.

"That is correct sir, the islands been overrun." The leader responded.

"Chief we've got contact!" Cortana said panicking.

The Spartan then turned to see several grinders, along with drones armed with lancers.

"GET DOWN!" Chief yelled as he grabbed Prescotts head and brought him down.

Rivera and Lowe dove down, but the 3 remaining onyx guards of Charlie Two weren't quick enough. The rapid fire from the mulchers and lancers cut through their armor. They screamed in agony for only a few seconds before their bodies dropped to the floor, dead and a large pool of blood.

"We've got to move now!" Chief said as he and Prescott along with the 2 remaining onyx guards in the world began to run.

The 4 of them rapidly sprinted down the hallway, Prescott with his snub pistol armed and ready, Rivera and Lowe with their lancers, and Chief with his pistol and shotgun.

"KR Zero One, this is Chairman Prescott requesting an evac. Can you make it?" Prescott said as he ran.

"Affirmative sir, where is the EZ?" A voice replied.

"At the armory of Azura."

"But sir, the armory is overrun."

"Do you see any locust?"

"No sir I do not."

"Exactly, it's the last place they'd expect us to be. We'll be there in 5." Prescott said.

Then they reached another elevator and pressed the button to open it. Once they pushed the button, they began to go down. Along the way, they could see King Ravens engaged in a vicious dogfight with reavers.

"Let's hope they don't crash into us." Cortana said.

Then they reached the bottom of the elevator and began sprinting to where the armory was located. They eventually reach it and there they saw KR Zero One there waiting for them.

"That's our ride!" Lowe said.

As Prescott and the 2 onyx guards ran to it, Cortana was picking up movement.

"Chief look out behind you!"

"GRIND!" a deep voice called.

The Spartan turned and saw a grinder spinning up his mulcher. A hail of bullets came at him and he quickly dove to cover.

Chief took out his shotgun and jumped back out of cover and began firing at it the grinder.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" it said as it continued firing.

The Rivera and Lowe saw this and opened fire on the grinder. Chief shot his last shotgun shell into the grinder and finally killed it.

"Boy, that big guy was tough." Cortana said.

"Yeah, now let's get out of here." Chief said.

The Spartan quickly hurried over to the King Raven and he got in. The pilot closed the doors and it began to take off. The helicopter flew out of the armory and flew away from the island. Chief looked through the window and could see that the beachhead he defended was now littered with countless bodies of onyx guards and all types of locust soldiers, along with the brumak he killed.

"So what do we do now Prescott sir?" Lowe asked.

"We fly to the Raven Class Carrier CNV Sovereign and meet with Colonel Victor Hoffman." Prescott said.

"And then what?"

"We organize a counter attack with the remainder of the COG and take back Azura." Prescott said.

"Once they find out what he did, I doubt they'll want to work with him." Cortana said to Chief.

"Well we'll find out Cortana." Chief replied.

As the helicopter continued flying, the pilot picked up a signal.

"Uh guys, I'm picking up a signal form close by." The pilot said.

"Hello, this is KR Zero Three, any King Raven in the area please respond!" a voice said.

"KR Zero Three this is KR Zero One good to hear your voice."

"Thank goodness someone made it."

"Are you being tailed?"

"Negative, I think the grubs didn't see us leaving."

"We're on our way to the Raven Class Carrier CNV Sovereign."

"Okay then, I'll rendezvous with you there."

"Wilco, Zero One out."

"Glad someone made it from the battle." Chief said.

"Hey guys, I see a large thing up ahead. I don't know what I'm looking at but it looks like part of a ship." The pilot said.

This immediately caught Chief and Cortanas attention and the Spartan looked out the window to see the crashed part of the Dawn.

"What is that?" Prescott asked.

"That's the ship me and my partner came in. Prescott, if you could get the pilot to fly over to it, I can maybe get into the armory and retrieve more weapons seeing as my current ones are out of ammo." Chief said.

"Very well Master Chief." Prescott said. "Pilot fly over to that ship, our guest is going to retrieve some weapons from it."

"Yes sir." The pilot responded.

The King Raven flew over to the Dawn and hovered over it. Chief opened the doors and jumped down and landed on the ship, creating a small dent upon landing.

"Cortana, can you verify the armory?"

"Yes just give me a second….. And found it!" Cortana said.

The Spartan quickly made his way into the ship. The inside was a mess and was barely recognizable anymore. Chief, using Cortanas coordinates, found the armory and went in.

"Yes, this'll do." He said.

There was more assault rifles, shotgun shells, several grenades, battle rifles, sniper rifles, and even a rocket launcher.

"I think you should save that one for a rainy day." Cortana said about the rocket launcher.

Chief nodded and he took as much ammo as he could get plus new guns to replace the empty ones he left on Azura and a sniper rifle and the rocket launcher. After he was all loaded up, he was his way out of the ship. The King Raven flew lower enough for him to climb back into and then it headed for its destination.

Prescott was shocked at how much weapons he had now.

"Wow, that is quite the armament you have there Spartan" He said.

"Thank you sir. And don't worry I know how to use these things." Chief said.

"Well let's hope that is proven soon." Prescott said as the Raven flew off.

**Authors note: Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the story so far. I've been busy with college and work so sorry for the delay! **


	6. Marcus, it's your father

The Raven was now flying over a town known as Hanover. Chief looked out the windows and down at the town. It looked deserted, all the buildings seemed ruined and damaged.

"What a sight." Cortana said.

Then up ahead they could see the Raven Carrier known as Sovereign.

"Come in Sovereign, this is KR Zero One, requesting a landing zone on the ship, carrying 4 passengers, Chairman Prescott, Corporal Lowe, Corporal Rivera, and one um, Spartan named John 117. Do you copy?" The pilot said into the radio.

"Sovereign to KR Zero One, you have been recognized as COG and not locust." A female voice replied.

"Roger that Sovereign, KR Zero One inbound, estimated landing in 5 minutes. Secure the deck." The pilot replied.

"Sovereign to KR Zero One, you are clear to land, deck team standing by." The female voice replied.

The Raven then flew over the ship, however as they did, Cortana began to pick up movement below the water.

"Chief, I've got movement coming from below the water!"

Chief then looked out the window and saw a massive tree like thing grow out of the water beside the carrier. They glowed yellow and they looked infected. Then pods began to grow on them and spurted out glowing chunks.

"Lambent." Chief said to himself.

The glowing chunks landed on the ships deck where several gear soldiers were stationed. The chunks then transformed into figures the same shape of a locust drone, but they glowed instead. Chief then saw the gears on deck and the lambent drones immediately start engaging eachother in a firefight. He could see other King Ravens, including KR Zero Three, providing air support for the gears. The lambent drones exploded upon death, taking a few gears with them as the fighting intensified.

"KR Zero One to Sovereign, landing is aborted standing off until deck is secured. Ready to assist where we can, Zero One out." The pilot said.

"Let's hope the soldiers can handle those guys." Cortana said.

The gears on deck were fighting against hard against the lambent. They kept their distance from the explosive beings to avoid being caught in the blast. Then 3 more stalks appeared in the ships side and produced more lambent drones. The gears were now taking heavy causalities and would soon be overrun. However a 4 person squad consisting of 3 men and a woman then appeared on deck. They assisted the remaining gears and fought off the wave of lambent drones. Inside the lift control, a gear was battling a lambent drone with his gnasher. The gear succeeded in killing it, but the explosion caused him to die too. The deck was now temporarily cleared of lambent and the 4 person squad then made their way to the lift control. One of them who had a doo rag on went in and activated the control. The woman, who had blonde hair, was now radioing the pilot.

"Sovereign to KR Zero One you are clear to land, the forward lift is being raised for you, stand by."

"Copy that Sovereign." The pilot said.

The King Raven then landed on the now raised platform and Prescott, Rivera, Lowe, and Chief got up. The door opened the Prescott stepped out first, who was soon followed by Rivera, Lowe, and Chief. They walked towards the squad on the deck.

"Hello Delta Squad." Prescott said.

"Chairman Prescott. Welcome to what's left of the COG." The man in the doo rag said in a sarcastic voice.

"Oh boy, this doesn't sound good." Cortana said.

"I'll have answers for you ladies and gentlemen, but later. I need to see Colonel Hoffman immediately." Prescott said as he walked past them.

"Hoffmans almost been gone as long as you have, Chairman." The blonde lady said.

This caused Prescott to turn around surprised a little. "He's dead?"

"He left to take a group of civilians to Anvil Gate, Captian Michaelson's the Senior Officer now, not that we have much of a military left." The lady replied.

"I'd better talk to the gallant captain then, I have a mission for him." Prescott said as he began to walk again, but then stopped again. "Oh and Sergeant Fenix, you'll want to see this." He said handing the doo rag man a disc.

The man glared at him before taking it.

"Rivera, Lowe, come with me, Master Chief, you stay here and assist Delta Squad with getting up to CIC." Prescott said.

Prescott began to walk and Rivera and Lowe followed him. They pushed past the members of the squad like they weren't there and followed their leader down to the ship. Meanwhile Delta Squad was observing Master Chief.

"Who the hell are you, another one of Prescotts suck up soldiers?" the bearded man asked.

"No, I'm Master Chief Spartan 117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. And no I'm not one of Prescotts soldiers." Chief replied.

"UNSC, what does that stand for?" the man who looked like he was very young asked.

"United Nations Space Command, the main defense of Earth." Chief replied.

"Earth? What the hells Earth?" the young man asked.

"Enough!" the man with the doo rag shouted. "We don't have time for making new friends right now Jace."

"Right, sorry Marcus." Jace replied.

"Listen John, I don't care where you're from, all I care about is knowing that you're on our side and won't shoot us out there on the battlefield." Marcus said.

"You have my word Sergeant." Chief replied.

"Fucking great, well let me introduce you to my squad. I'm Marcus, that's Anya, this is Jace, and this is Dom." Marcus said pointing to the 3 members.

"This guy has quite the attitude." Cortana said.

"So this disc Prescott gave me, what is it?" Marcus asked.

"I can't say I know." Chief replied.

"Well it better not be a shopping list, let's go check it out." Marcus said as they walked off the platform and onto the deck.

Behind them the platform went back down with the King Raven on it. Dom was still angry over Prescotts arrival.

"Who the hell, does that asshole think he is?!" Dom said through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry Dom, Prescott's gonna find out that an ex-chairman doesn't count for shit with Michealson." Marcus said.

"So uh, Chief? You're like an alien or something?" Jace asked.

"No I'm a human just like you, only I'm from a different planet." Chief said.

"Then what's with the helmet and why are you seven feet tall?"

"Well Jace, it's hard to explain but when I was young, I wa-"

Their conversation was interrupted when an announcement came on.

"Action stations! Lambent have boarded the ship! We're under attack!" the voice said.

"Oh my god come on! We just stood down!" Dom said frustrated.

More lambent drones began to board the ship and took cover by the crates over in the plant section of the deck. Delta Squad along with Master Chief took out their weapons and took cover. The Spartan took out his assault rifle and fired at the lambent with short controlled bursts, taking down a few of them as Delta fired their lancers.

"Shit they're attacking in waves!" Jace said as more came up.

Nearby a gears soldier who goes by the name of Keith was engaging a drudge who was on the upper balcony of the deck. He managed to kill it and the drudge let out a huge explosion, causing the balcony to collapse and crush 3 lambent drones.

"Come on people! The sooner we kill these things, the sooner we get up to CIC and find out whats so important on this goddamn disc!" Marcus said as he killed some more lambent drones.

Eventually, the gears killed all the lambent and began to move up, but then more lambent appeared.

"So which idiot said he wanted to see some action for a change?!" Dom said.

"Well they say it comes in threes!" Jace replied.

"Be careful what you wish for kid." Cortana said.

The gears and Spartan took cover behind some crates and began firing. Dom killed 4 lambent drones before switching to his smoke grenade. He tossed it and stunned a lambent drone. He then switched to his retro lancer and charged at the creature and impaled it with the bayonet before throwing its lifeless body down and avoiding the explosion. Anya fired her lancer at the lambent. She took down 3 lambent drones before having to reload her lancer. She then saw a drudge trying to flank her and she got up and charged at it. She revved up her chainsaw and yelled as she brought it down on the creatures body. She cut through it and then kicked it into 4 lambent drones and they all exploded from the drudge.

"Whoa, she's got some moves Chief." Cortana said.

Jace switched to his longshot and sniped a lambent drones before switching to his lancer. He took down a few lambent drones before tossing in a frag grenade and blowing up another group of them. Marcus shot his lancer at a drudge and killed it. He then switched to his gnasher and charged in and blew 5 lambent drones away before reloading. Chief reloaded his assault rifle and took down the last remaining lambent drones with it. Then he saw that there was only a drudge left. He switched to his shotgun and charged at it and fired a shot into its torso. However, the drudge then began to glow bright yellow.

"Chief it's gonna blow!" Cortana said alarmed.

The Spartan then saw the drudge charge at him in an attempt to take him with the explosion, but the Spartan quickly kicked it away and it went flying off the railing off the boat and into the water where it exploded.

"Whoa!" Jace said.

Chief turned around to see the gears staring at him with shock written all over their faces.

"Yes?" Chief asked to break the silence.

"Um nothing." Dom said.

Then the same announcers voice came back on.

"Ships Company! Remain at action stations until we are clear of lambent waters."

"Yeah good idea. Let's get upstairs and see whats on the disc." Marcus said.

The 4 gears along with the Spartan headed up the stairs and into the CIC. They opened the door and entered the room. Inside, the 4 members of Delta Squad went over to the computer while Chief was observing the other things inside.

"Wow, this stuff seems old compared to the UNSC's technology." Cortana said.

"Maybe they aren't as advanced as we are." Chief replied.

"Yeah well they did scorch over 90% of their planet." Cortana said jokekingly a little.

Chief then turned and saw that Anya had finally got the disc working and a video played on the computer screen. A man appeared on the screen with glasses and a bald head. Chief and Cortana recognized him.

"It's the man Prescott was talking to on Azura." Cortana said.

"Yeah, it is." Chief replied.

The Spartan went over and joined Delta.

"Marcus, if you get this message... if you're still alive... I need your help. This time I really am asking for your help." The main said.

Marcus leaned for a closer look and saw it was his father.

"Oh god, Marcus. It's your father." Anya said.

"Yeah I noticed." Marcus replied with a little sarcasm in his voice.

Please listen, it's complicated and I don't have much time.

"Wait, but… I thought…." Jace said a little confused

"Leave it alone Jace." Dom said.

I'm being held prisoner by the Locust, and I've developed a solution for the Lambent problem. They think they can use it to kill Humans as well, but they don't realize-

The message cut off with the screen going blurry.

"Oh come on." Anya said.

"Marcus, he knows about and lambent, and he looks a lot older then when he, you know-" Dom said not finishing the sentence.

"Then when we saw him die, I know. But if he's still alive, I've got to find him." Marcus said. "Anya, any way to tell when this was recorded?

"There's no date code, and I can't get the damn thing to come back up."

Chief chose to speak up.

"Perhaps I can offer some assistance." He said.

Anya looked back up at him and narrowed her eyes at him.

"You? What can you possibly do?"

Chief then took Cortanas chip out of his helmet and held it out with her appearing over it again.

"Whoa, what the hells that!?" Dom said a little alarmed.

"It's alright, she's my partner. She can help decode the message. Her name's Cortana." Chief said.

"Great then get her to do her magic of whatever, it is very important that we decode this message!" Marcus said a little frustrated.

Chief then showed Cortana the computer and she began to inspect it. After a few moments, she figured out what she had to do and began hacking into the computer. Then the screen came back on with Adams message resuming play.

-that it won't save the Locust. Sera's dying, Marcus. The whole planet's infected! It's the Imulsion that's killing it. It was always the Imulsion, you see, and I can stop it. I understand it all now! I've tried contacted you over the years but I've been-" The machine was cut off again from static.

"Dammit, the machine broke down!" Cortana said. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright Cortana." Chief said as he put the chip back into his helmet.

"Baird's never here when you need him." Anya said annoyed.

Then another announcement came up.

"Brace, brace, brace! Brace for impact!" the voice said.

Then the ship was struck by an explosion, causing it to shake and sending the gears and Spartan in the CIC to lose their balance for a second. Chief then looked up and saw more lambent stalks coming up.

"Looks like we've got company." He said taking out his battle rifle.

"I'll figure out a way to decode the rest of that disc Marcus. We'll find him!" Anya said.

"Come on let's get out there and finish these assholes!" Marcus said they all exited the CIC.

Back outside some new stalks were producing more lambent drones and drudges. Chief saw 2 King Ravens fly by. One of them flew ahead while one stayed and began firing down on the lambent.

"Looks like we've got air support." Cortana said. "Wait I'm picking up movement."

Then another stalk came up under the helicopter and smashed it, sending the helicopter flying out of control and crashing into the sea.

"Oh, nevermind."

Delta and the Spartan made their way to the rails before hearing another announcement.

"This is the Chairman!" Prescotts voice said.

"Great now he wants coffee." Marcus said annoyed.

"I'm under attack in the captains cabin! Michaelson's badly wounded, I can't hold them off alone! We require immediate assistance!" Prescott said.

"Prescott! This is Fenix! Hold on we're coming!" Marcus said.

Chief and Delta took position along the rails and fired down at the lambent forces. The lambent quickly returned fire to the gears and they took cover to reload.

Chief then saw a long gear named Paul on the lower deck engaging the lambent they were also attacking. He then noticed that more lambent were appearing behind him and were flanking him.

"That soldier needs help Chief, do what you do best!" Cortana said.

Chief then took out a frag and pulled its pin. He tossed it at the lambent that Delta was engaging and took out a few of them with it. He then jumped down and aimed at the flanking lambent with his battle rifle. He zoomed in and aimed for the head just like with the locust and shot the 3 burst round. He killed a lambent drone and then a drudge. They returned fire on the Spartan with little effect. He continued firing at the lambent while Delta cleared out the ones on the deck.

"Come on move it! We've gotta get down there! Prescott can't handle this on his own!" Marcus ordered.

The 4 gears then went down the stairs where more lambent appeared and engaged them.

"You fucked up my tomatoes you assholes!" Dom said.

Anya killed 3 lambent drones with her lancer before reloading. Jace sniped a drudge with his longshot, causing it to explode and kill 2 lambent drones who were close before switching to his lancer. Marcus threw a frag at a group of 4 lambent drones, causing them to explode and then took out his lancer and chainsaw the last one. Dom shot his retro at the last drudge and then retro charged a lambent drone, impaling it and killing it. Delta then looked over and saw Paul and Chief finishing off the last lambent all present on deck.

"Come on stop them before they get below deck!" Marcus said as he and the other members ran to join Chief and Paul.

The 6 of them then went to where the Raven landing platform was, but it was lowered and they had no chance of getting past it. Then more lambent stalks appeared on the other side.

"Anyone near the lift controls? Raise the decklift!" Marcus said into his com.

He didn't get a response, causing him to become frustrated.

"Chief, you can jump over and activate the deck controls!" Cortana said.

"Sergeant Fenix, I can do it." Chief said.

The Spartan then squatted down and then did a powerful jump high into the air using his super strength. He then landed on the roof of the deck controls and quickly jumped down and went in.

"Whoa holy shit! Glad he's on our side!" Jace said in amazement.

Inside the controls, Chief activated what he assumed was the controls and then the platform began to rise.

"Got it." He said.

He quickly was fired on by more lambent drones, causing him to switch to his shotgun and start blasting away at them. Meanwhile Delta ran across the platform and fired on the lambent with their lancers.

Chief killed 3 lambent drones before having to reload his shotgun. Then Delta finished off the rest of the lambent before rejoining the Spartan.

"Nice job, uh Master Chief." Dom said.

"Fire, fire, fire! Fire to the galley flat! Fire control team to the galley flat!" another announcement said.

"Better get down there." Chief said.

As they went down, Anya was requesting reinforcements.

"Sovereign to all KR units off ship, we are under heavy lambent attack. The ship has been boarded and we require support. I say again we are and require immediate assistance." Anya said.

They then reached the galley flats entrance and saw the fire.

"There's a fire! Grab the extinguisher!" Marcus said pointing to a dead gear who was holding one.

Jace quickly grabbed it and began spraying it at the fire.

"Let's get these fires under control!"

Jace then put out the first fire.

"Prescott better not be dead, not yet!" Dom said.

"Boy that's nice." Cortana said.

Jace then put out the last fire and Chief went through first and was greeted by a drudge. He quickly charged at it and took out his pistol as he did. He grabbed the thing by what he assumed was its neck and fired its pistol into its face. He then looked and saw Prescott battle two lambent drones with a snub pistol and could see Rivera and Lowes corpses.

"Prescott, keep your head down!" Chief shouted.

Prescott head this and took cover behind the desk. Chief then kicked the unstable drudge into the office and it landed next to the lambent drones. It then exploded, taking the two drones with it. Prescott got back up and calmed himself down as Chief and the rest of Delta entered the office. Inside Chief saw a corpse of what he assumed was Michaelson. He went over and kneeled down beside it.

"Cortana, can you verify?"

"Give me a second." Cortana said as she scanned for life signs. "No life signs detected, he's gone."

Chief sighed and got back up to see Marcus coming over to the body.

"I'm sorry Sergeant, but I'm afraid your captains dead." Chief said putting a hand on Marcus's shoulder.

Marcus sighed and looked a little saddened.

"You must take off!" Prescott said into his com. "Why not?! Well find someone to do it! Oh very well! Stand by!"

Marcus went over to his squad. "Michaelson's gone." He said to them. They all looked a little sad.

"Fenix get down to the hanger. The helicopters are under attack. We need to get them airborne right away." Prescott said.

Marcus glared at him and walked over to him.

"This looks like it's gonna get ugly." Cortana said.

"Are you wounded?" Marcus asked Prescott.

"Yes but I-"

"Then you stay here." Marcus said cutting him off. He then shoved a snub pistol into Prescotts hands. "And you don't move until we get back, understood?"

"I'll try not to get myself killed, Sergeant." Prescott said.

"Yeah you do that. I'm not the conversational type, but when I get back, I want a nice long chat." Marcus said.

Prescott nodded and then Marcus walked away.

"I'll come back and give you first aid as soon as we've got the choppers away okay?" she asked Prescott.

He nodded again and then Anya began to exit. Chief then came over to Prescott.

"Sir, do you want me to stay here?"

"No Master Chief I don't. They need you more than I do." Prescott replied.

The Spartan then followed Delta out of the room while Prescott took a seat in the captains chair.

"We should have handcuffed him to a pip, in case he does another disappearing act." Dom said.

"He's not going anywhere without his chopper or precious soldier." Marcus said.

Chief rolled his unseen eyes and followed them down to the hanger.


End file.
